What's in a Name?

This past weekend I was at a wedding in Iowa.  I know from previous experiences that weddings in the Midwest mean I probably won't be eating at the event.  I also know that it means explaining my dietary habits to people.  One friend of mine advised me to just say I have food allergies, and no one will bother me.  It's great advice, but it also makes me wonder, why does anyone care?  People like to label each other: by location, sexual preference, fashion style, intelligence, race, body type... the list goes on.  Why? Maybe the labels help us categorize each other, or find commonalities, I don't know. But I'm not going to get into all that.  It did get me thinking, though, about how I label myself and my eating habits, and why there's almost always confusion.

From the start of this blog, I called myself a pseudo-vegan pescetarian, or something along those lines.  Here is what I mean: I do not eat animals or eggs; I eat fish sporatically; I rarely eat cheese; I avoid butter, milk, sour cream, cream cheese, and mayonnaise; I avoid high fructose corn syrup and artificial ingredients; I drink wine and sometimes beer on the weekends; I drink green tea for caffeine and only have coffee once in a blue moon; I eat chocolate occasionally; and I avoid baked goods.

When it gets broken down, I am not actually 100% vegan.  I rarely eat cheese and I love seafood.  And vegans do not consume any animals or animal byproducts.  But for me to say vegetarian or pescetarian just doesn't seem enough, especially since so many things are restricted from my diet.  If I say I'm vegetarian, people will assume that I eat cheese, eggs, and dairy.  Then they will feed me those things, or question me when I don't eat them.  The only dairy I eat is cheese.  Even then, it's not often. (If I eat 4 times a day Monday through Friday, and twice a day on the weekends, that's 24 times a week.  I eat cheese probably two meals out of 24, putting me at 8.3% of my weekly diet.)  I avoid other things with dairy and even check labels to make sure they do not have whey and casein-- proteins found in milk-- and I will not touch things made with eggs.  I only eat seafood when I'm out to eat-- which may actually have more to do with saving money and the fact that I haven't mastered cooking seafood yet-- and even then, it's once a week at most.  And I also drink wine and beer, which some might say are processed using animal byproducts.  (FYI: Amstel, Corona, Heineken, Miller and Rolling Rock are all vegan.)

So that's where the pseudo-vegan pescetarian label comes from.  I realize that maybe I could just say I'm a pescetarian with lactose intolerance, but even that will bring up some sort of question when someone sees me eating cheese, but not milk (which is actually kind of funny because I actually do have lactose intolerance, but sometimes just eat cheese anyway).

The moral of the story is that eat what I eat, and I can't really label it.  I just have to accept that I will always have to explain myself.    And as long as I remember that what I eat goes into my body and no one else's, I guess it shouldn't really matter what anyone thinks.

For the record, here are some labels of food preferences:
Carnivore: eats meat, dairy
Omnivore: eats everything
Vegetarian: eats largely plant-based diet, but sometimes dairy

Vegan: eats only plant-based foods, no meat, no dairy

Pescetarian: eats plant-based foods and fish/shellfish, but excludes other meats

Fruitarian: eats fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains

Lacto vegetarian (lactarian): vegetarian diet that includes dairy, but excludes eggs
Gluten-free: excludes gluten, which is commonly found in wheat, barley, rye, and malts

It's All Greek to Me

I have a new obsession.

I just went home for the first time in over a year, and there was an abundance of food and wine.  The same day I got picked up from the airport was the day my mother hosted a bridal shower at our house.  Needless to say, there was leftover food.  A new recipe my mom had just tried out that afternoon was one for greek nachos.  It may sound weird, but hear me out, because these things are fantastic... and addicting! (I must have easily had a dozen of them!)

Take Tostitos Scoops Tortilla Chips (or toasted, broken pieces of evenly cut pita bread if you'd rather not eat chips) and fill them with a little bit of plain hummus, top with a mixture of diced tomatoes, cucumbers, onion and Kalamata olives, and then sprinkle on some feta cheese.  The Scoops work well because it holds everything neatly together in one little pocket, and you get all the flavors in one bite!

I am in love with these appetizers.  They are absolutely delicious!  The only downfall is that if they sit for awhile, the hummus will make the chip soggy.  Fortunately, I had no problem eating them and polishing off the plate before that could happen.

The Glorious Chickpea

I should tell you I have a weakness for barbecue kettle chips.  I don't know where it came from all of a sudden, but I love them-- so much so, that I have to avoid buying them at all for fear that I won't be able to have portion control.  It's probably not a bad thing that I don't buy them, since potato chips aren't exactly nutritious.  But man, are they good.

So when I saw a recipe for roasted chickpeas, the wheels in my brain started turning.  I figured, just like tofu, they can take on any flavor you choose.  Well, I decided that I would make barbecue roasted chickpeas.  I took a can of drained chickpeas, threw them in a bag with olive oil and my BBQ3000 spice from Penzey's, shook it up for awhile so the oil and spices coated all the peas, then spread them out on a cookie sheet, and baked for about forty minutes on 375 degrees.  Some recipes say 25 to 30 minutes, but mine were definitely in there longer.  That's what you get for living in an old apartment: an old oven that takes twice as long.

Turns out, they don't taste anything like the kettle chips.  They actually don't taste anything like barbecue at all.  But they do taste good nonetheless, and they're a healthy snack.  And the difference with chips, is you can eat and eat and never feel full.  But these seasoned garbanzo beans are like little balls of protein and fiber that will fill you right up!  They're definitely a good alternative to chips, popcorn or other snacks.  They have a nice crunch to them like junk foods.  I've made roasted chickpeas before with an Asian blend of spices, and those were pretty tasty too.  You can really experiment with any sort of spice, or you can eat them plain with some sea salt if that's your forte.  Keep in mind that just because they're a legume and considered "healthy," it's probably not a good idea to snack on a whole can's worth of roasted chickpeas.  There are about 330 calories per can, which isn't bad, but that can add up if you're just snacking.